Not Just Gender: The Best Workplaces for Women Increase Fairness for All Employees

Great Place to Work

15 September 2017

September 15, 2017 (San Francisco) – Global research and consulting firm Great Place to Work® and FORTUNE have announced their annual ranking of the country’s Best Workplaces for Women. Employee survey results from the winners showed that companies where women are thriving also tend to offer better workplace experiences for all employees.

“Fair hiring, pay and benefits are just the table stakes for retaining talented people in 2017. The Best Workplaces for Women stand above competitors by creating trustworthy organizations that eliminate gaps in employees’ day-to-day experience. You can see the results in healthy, dedicated teams where all co-workers thrive,” said Michael Bush, CEO of Great Place to Work.

Research from Great Place to Work found:

Consistent survey results from men and women correlated strongly with smaller gaps among other demographic groups that frequently report less-positive experiences than their colleagues. These groups include people of color, LGBT individuals, Millennials and employees at lower job or pay levels.

Women at the Best Workplaces gave their employers higher marks for professional development. This is especially significant, as an analysis of all companies surveyed by Great Place to Work found that women's experience lagged their colleagues' even as they advanced into leadership roles.

95 percent of women at the winning companies described their organizations as welcoming, friendly and places they are proud to tell others about.

93 percent of all employees at the Best Workplaces said customers would rate their organizations’ service as “excellent”.

About the Best Workplaces for Women

The ranking considered surveys of more than 400,000 U.S. employees at Great Place to Work-Certified™ organizations, assessing them on:

Key metrics for a great workplace. Great Place to Work analyzed how women rated their organizations in more than 50 areas, including respect, fairness, management and camaraderie.

Gender comparison. The ranking considered women’s survey results compared to their colleagues to ensure women had as positive an experience as men. This considered an index of factors where women often lag their peers, such as access to meaningful work, fair pay and plans for a future with their organizations.

Consistent experiences in a diverse group. Great Place to Work also analyzed demographic patterns to ensure companies created great workplaces for all women, regardless of who they are or what jobs they do.

Surveys were conducted anonymously at each organization and women’s results achieved at least a 95 percent confidence level and a 7 percent margin of error or less. Organizations needed to employ at least 50 women to be considered.

To find out more about becoming Great Place to Work-Certified and recognized on Best Workplaces lists published with FORTUNE, visit Greatplacetowork.com.

Great Place to Work

Great Place to Work® is a global people analytics and consulting firm that helps companies of all sizes produce better business results by focusing on the work experience for every employee—our research shows there’s a clear and direct relationship between employee engagement and financial performance. Over the past 30 years, we have surveyed more than 100 million employees to help organizations around the world identify and build high-trust, high-performance workplace cultures. Powered by decades of research, Emprising®, our Software-as-a-Service survey and analytics platform, empowers companies with access to the assessments, data, and real-time reporting needed to help them create a meaningful impact on their business, their people, and their culture. Through our certification programs, we recognize outstanding workplaces and produce Fortune’s annual list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For, as well as a variety of other Best Workplace rankings in the United States and in more than 60 other countries. Everything we do is driven by our mission: to build a better world by helping every organization become a Great Place to Work For All by the year 2030.